The hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge is being treated for severe
pregnancy sickness has admitted it breached patient confidentiality after
falling victim to a hoax call from an Australian radio station.

John Lofthouse, the chief executive of the King Edward VII Hospital in London, said pranksters from Sydney-based 2Day FM should never have been able to speak to the Duchess's nurse because VIP patients have secure lines which connect directly to their rooms.

He said the hoax was a "pretty poor trick" and defended his staff, saying they were trained to care for patients, not to "cope with journalistic trickery of this sort".

Michael Christian and Mel Greig, who present the Summer 30 evening show on 2Day FM, managed to convince the hospital staff they were the Queen and the Prince of Wales, despite doing a "terrible" impersonation of them.

They were put straight through to the Duchess's ward at 5.30am on Tuesday, with no questions asked. Neither the receptionist who put the call through nor the nurse treating the Duchess suspected anything was amiss, even when the "Queen" wrongly referred to the Duchess as "my granddaughter" and swore at the "Prince".

The nurse looking after the Duchess gave confidential details of her treatment and of her condition, and even talked about what time it would be convenient for the "Queen" to visit.

Mr Lofthouse said: "I'm not impressed. I think it was a pretty poor trick to play. Technically it was a breach of patient confidentiality; having said that the information that was revealed is already in the public domain.

"This whole thing is pretty deplorable. Our nurses are caring, professional people, trained to look after patients, not to cope with journalistic trickery of this sort."

He said the hospital had "very clear policies" on dealing with callers, "regrettably" had not worked on this occasion.

"What would normally happen is that for patients like this there is a secure telephone line that goes straight into the patient's room and no-one has access to that number unless they have good reason to do so.

"Our advice is that what the Australian broadcasters did may have broken the law, on the other hand they have apologised so we are going to have a long and careful think about what, if anything, we do."

Earlier, he had said: "This was a foolish prank call that we all deplore. We take patient confidentiality extremely seriously and we are now reviewing our telephone protocols."

Mel Greig, who pretended to be the Queen, spent around two minutes talking to the nurse.

The nurse replied: "Good morning ma'am, this is a nurse speaking. How may I help you?"

The "Queen" said: "Hello, I'm just after my granddaughter Kate, I wanted to see how her little tummy bug is going."

After the nurse gave her some details, she said: "OK, I'll just feed my little corgis then," followed by barking from co-presenter Michael Christian.

She asked when a good time would be to visit, and the nurse replied: "I would suggest that any time after nine o'clock would be suitable, because the doctor will be in in the morning, and will just be getting her freshened up in the morning. I would think any time after nine."

Michael Christian, who pretended to be the Prince of Wales, asked the nurse: "Is Wills still there, or has he gone home. I haven't spoken to him yet."

The "Queen" interjected: "When are you going to walk those bloody corgis?" The Charles impersonater replied: "Mumsy, I'll go and take the dogs outside."

Mr Christian said he was "completely shocked" to be put through to the ward, adding: "I thought we'd get hung up on!"

After the pair were put through to the ward by the hospital's reception, he said on air: "If this has worked, it's the easiest prank call we've ever made. Your accent sucked by the way."

He later tweeted: "Not sure how it happened, but called Kate Middleton's hospital pretending to be the Queen and they PUT US THROUGH!!"

The call will re-open the debate on the Leveson Report, which proposes state regulation of the British press but makes no attempt to address the issue of the unregulated internet or media based abroad. Ironically, Lord Justice Leveson is currently in Australia on a speaking tour.

The call appears to have broken Australia's own broadcasting regulations, which stipulate that live programmes must not treat participants in a "highly demeaning or highly exploitative manner". It defines "exploitative" as "clearly appearing to purposefully debase or abuse the participant for the enjoyment of others, and lacking moral, artistic or other values".

The Duke of Cambridge, who arrived at the hospital for his daily visit at 12.20, was told about the hoax by his aides. He spent five hours there, and was joined for two hours by the Duchess's siblings, Pippa and James Middleton. The Duchess's parents visited her on Tuesday night, using a back door to avoid the media.

St James's Palace said it would not be making any comment on the episode, but it is understood that it has not made a formal complaint to the radio station.

A spokesman for 2Day FM said: "2Day FM sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused by the enquiry to Kate’s hospital, the radio segment was done with the best intentions and we wish Kate and her family all the best.”

In a statement, Mr Christiansen said: "We were very surprised that our call was put through, we thought we'd be hung up on as soon as they heard our terrible accents. We’re very sorry if we’ve caused any issues and we’re glad to hear that Kate is doing well.”

It is by no means the only time the Royal family has been the subject of a hoax call. In 1995 a Canadian radio presenter pretending to be his country's premier Jean Chretien was put through to the Queen.